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Reconciliation Ch. 01

By: Shadow_Weaver



I am a vampire.

Does that shock you?

I was born in medieval England, my father was a wealthy lord and my mother, his lady. My master came one night and found me... captivating, yes, that's the word he used. He told me right there that he wanted to make me immortal and I agreed.

Decades later, having incurred his wrath, and he was an unforgiving master, another master took me from him. A kind master that protected me and brought me into his throng to be his personal guard. I am forever indebted to him for that.

He had two other vampires as guards, twins who were known only as Crow and Raven, just as I was given the name Lynx. We three were lovers for decades until the fight. It was sworn that if one brother could not have me, the other could not either.

We have not seen each others beds since that night.

Two centuries have gone by now, and it's about time they ended this war. Raven had become the knight errant, always the gentleman, kind, yet quick to anger when his brother was concerned. Crow had become a rouge, his every move a sexual advance, mocking, cruel and baited his brother more often than not.

I move silently in the dark dojo. No one is here and I know I've got the whole place to myself.

I clear my mind and let my body fall into the position I always took whenever I started a kata. Breathing deeply and moving slowly, I start a Tai Chi form.

Every movement I make was made in time to my breathing and I feel myself relax as my heart slows into a steady, calm rhythm.

I always enjoyed this. It clears the mind, relaxes the body and seems to rejuvenate the soul. Everything I needed after a long day.

All too soon I come to the end of the kata and I start a new one, never stumbling, total muscle control, and steady breathing.

When I end that one I become aware of Raven standing in the shadows. He has just entered the room and he is watching intently. 

He has seen me train before, but when ever he sees me doing Tai chi... he's told me once before that it always took his breath away. He said that I look so at peace, so happy, and so relaxed. Not far from the truth.

I glance up as he steps onto the mat and nod in greeting. "Raven."

"Do you feel up to sparing?" He asks.

I sigh. I had enjoyed the moment's peace, but the promise of a spar is always welcome. "Yes. I'll let you warm up."

While Raven warms up, I practice gymnastics and flexibility, throwing cartwheels and doing back flips, somersaulting and stretching into a split. If I hadn't been a vampire, I wouldn't have been able to do half these things without proper training.

"Ready," Raven calls as he stands.

I move into position and bow to him.

The match has started.

I stand alert in my favourite stance, the "cat paw" stance, my eyes fixed on every move he makes by watching the middle of his chest. The center of his balance.

I never did like attacking first in a spar. I always preferred counter attacking, and I don't have to wait long.

Raven moves with lightning speed, but to my vampire sight, he only moves like a fast human.

I side step his attack and bring my leg up to kick him as he went past, but he has moved and is mounting his own attack by trying to sweep my legs from under me.

I jump back and flip into a low stance, ready to spring.

Raven stands and steps forward to deliver a punch to my head but I block his punch with both hands and sweep them around in a fast Tai Chi movement then push upwards towards his jaw.

Raven tilts his head back just in time, bringing his own arms down over mine.

We part once more.

Raven comes at me, probably hoping to catch me off guard, but I take a step back, spinning around and striking with a back fist.

He ducks in time and grabs the front of my shirt to spin me around, but I plant a leg behind his knees and straighten it out to trip him. I send him falling backwards, but, at the same time, dragging me down with him as his hands are still wrapped in my gi top.

I land on his chest, knocking the wind out of my lungs. I try to take a deep breath in but the sound rasps in my chest and sounds worse than it actually is.

Talk about pain.

"Are you all right?" Raven asks.

I try to breathe. "Just... winded," I say between breaths. "Wait... a min... ute." I stay on his chest, breathing deeply, inhaling the deep scent of him, soap, a musky aftershave and sweat.

Raven brings his arms over me to hold me to his chest and I relax, my laboured breathing becoming more regular, but I don't move. It's too comforting in his arms. Reminds me of a time centuries before he and his twin fought... over me. I know that the feeling can't last but I'm too afraid to break this moment between us.

I lay with her eyes shut, remembering. I haven't felt this way in centuries. I shift my head to glance up at Raven to see him watching me. He moves his head up and his lips touch mine. It is gentle, as if through the kiss he is asking permission. With a moan I give it to him, kissing him back.

I feel a thrill as his hand brushes my cheek to trail down my neck to the nape, holding me to him.

Raven rolls me onto my back, I feel him hard against my belly and the feeling sends shivers of delight through my body. I run my hands down his neck to slide under his shirt, caressing his toned chest, opening the front up.

Raven almost stops right there, breaking off the kiss and gazing down at me with his dark eyes. It's been too long I don't know if I can control myself, and I know he's thinking the same. I don't want control. I want everything, so I bring him back down to me, mouth eagerly searching out his.

With a groan, he gives into his own cravings, slipping his shirt off, then lowering a hand to cup one of my breasts through my top. I open my shirt up to him, feeling the rough surface of his fingers brush my nipples, causing my back to arch, then he starts to kiss his way down, taking one in his mouth while his hand caressed the other.

My back arches again as his tongue plays with the nipple, nails scratching his back gently. He slides my top off my shoulders and I relinquish my hold on him long enough to free my arms from the sleeves.

Raven kisses his way down to my navel, hands undoing my belt. He gently lifts me up as he pulls my trousers down past my hips, fingers barely touching my skin as he slides them down my bare flesh as he moves lower.

I gasped as he kisses my inner thigh, slowly, tantalisingly moving up, letting his tongue play upon my skin leaving white hot sensations as he moves on, then kissing my most intimate place, his tongue exploring me.

I squirm as I move my hands down, threading them in his hair, holding him to me, my legs bending up to allow him closer. His tongue darts in then out, teasing me, and I let out a moan of need, hands clutching at his hair, begging him to continue. He lets his tongue enter again moving more slowly.

I feel as if I'm going to come right there and then, but Raven starts to kiss his way back up, almost making me groan with disappointment, only to kiss my breasts again.

I let my hands move to his gi trousers, feeling his naked stomach as it was pressed against me. I untie the front and slip them over his hips, feeling his taunt buttocks as my hands travelled up to his head. 

Raven shifts his legs so that he kicks his gi off, bringing his knees up to rest between my legs. He kisses my neck, gently sucking on the tender flesh there before moving to my mouth, bringing me up to sit on his folded legs as he sits back.

I sit, legs folded under me so that I'm kneeling, and I can feel him stiff and ready between my thighs. I move one hand down to hold him, hearing him moan against my lips. Slowly and gently, I move my hand, delighting at the feeling of skin upon skin, the velvety softness as my hand glides over him.

My fingers touch the head, feeling the slick wetness of precum at the very tip. More than ready, I think.

I raise myself on my knees, leaning down to kiss Raven deeply as he brings me closer, guiding me softly home and down.

I gasp as he enters, flinging my head back in a wordless cry. It had been so long since I'd felt his bulk in me and it was almost overwhelming. Raven kisses the hollow of my neck, holding me close as he rocks me, plunging into me slowly until I can move more freely, raising up onto my knees to move against him.

We moved together in the dim room, rhythmically thrusting toward each other, but I want, no, need, more.

Raven lets his mouth move to the side of my neck and I feel the brush of teeth as his canine teeth lengthen.

I moan in ecstasy as Raven bites my neck, the bite bringing me closer to climax as he suckles at me, drinking my blood as we moved together. This is what I wanted.

With the taste of blood, he moans against my neck, thrusting harder into me as his control slips.

I feel the change as I start to climax, a tail snaking down from my tail bone, but I don't care. I sink my own teeth into Raven, feeling him become more excited, pulling me closer to him as he rammed himself into me.

Then I hear a feathery whisper as dark wings enfold us both, brushing my back lightly as I trust towards him, meeting violent thrusts with my own. Not taking my mouth from his neck, I open my eyes to see two black wings sprouting from Raven's back.

I bring my mouth back to Raven's, our blood mingling in our mouths. Raven pulls me tighter to him, thrusting himself deeper and deeper as his need increases, but by that time, so has mine.

My mind reels as I climax, throwing my head back again to let out a moan as my whole body spasms. I'm answered by Raven as he too comes, filling me.

I fall back, Raven still sheathed inside me and he slumps against me, pinning me with his weight. His midnight black wings sweep either side of us one last time before disappearing into his back. He raises up on his arms and pulls out, rolling onto his back.

I snuggle up to his side, resting my head on his chest, hearing the thud of his heart, beating at the same time as mine.

I look up, following the line of Raven's jaw, and I felt content for the first time since the fight. Tears start to well up in my eyes.

Raven glances at me from where he lay, a hand brushing my cheek. "Tears."

I nod. "Tears at last."

"What's wrong?"

I can't help but smile. "Nothing. I think I'm happy."

He strokes my cheek with his fingers. "You think?"

I pull myself up onto my elbow. "I haven't felt this way since you and your brother were with me."

Raven smiles and lets his hand move to my jaw line. "I know how you feel." His eyes seem to dim. "But that's now in the past and Crow would never agree to this now. I don't think I could either."

It was honest at least. "I know, and for that I'm sorry."

Raven pulls me down for another kiss. "Sorry for what? You have nothing to be sorry for, Lynx. It was all our faults for letting feelings get in the way of common sense."

I shut my eyes and shake my head. "But feelings were all we had."

His hand brushes my hair away from my face. "I know."

I smile gently. "It was beautiful while it lasted."

"So are you," he says as he runs his hand down my jaw.

Reconciliation Ch. 02



I walk towards my office and dwell on the night in the dojo. It had been a taste of the past, but, like with everything pleasurable, a taste is never enough. My body yearned for the days when two men were at my side. Two men with long black hair, dark brown eyes and midnight black wings.

The past is gone though I try as hard as I can to keep it.

Crow and Raven would never be civil in the same room together, let alone in my bed.

I sigh, running my hand over the marks left by Raven. Yes, I could have healed them, but they are a reminder of what could have been.

I open the door and freeze. Well, well. Speak of the devil.

Crow leans against my desk, waiting for little ol' me. "What do you want, Crow?"

He chuckles darkly, his eyes holding that certain kind of heat in them when a man knows what he wants and how he's going to get it. "Fine welcome. Not as warm as the one you gave my brother."

Despite my best intentions, I blush. "That is of no concern of yours."

He stands so suddenly that I know he has used his powers. "On the contrary." He reaches me, his lips so close to mine I can feel his breath. "It concerns me greatly."

It's too close since Raven and my body yearns to cross that distance, to kiss those soft lips. I push past him to get to my desk, but even that small touch makes things low inside me clench. 

He comes up behind me, his arms circling my waist and lips hanging close to my ear. "Why should my brother break our oath to you and not me?" He moves his head to the other side, his left hand caressing my breast. "I could take you now, and you wouldn't be able to do a thing about it." He moves his lips closer to my ear. "But I would prefer you to come to me of your own free will."

I try to speak my mouth is dry. I like my lips and I find my voice. "Never."

"Never?" he kisses down my neck. "Never's a long time."

I feel my chest tighten as his mouth brushes over the marks left by Raven, my body remembering the feel of him, remembering both of them. Their skin against mine, and I feel my body become aroused.

"Let go of me!" I demand, my voice suddenly husky. My mind rages at my body, and, slowly, I feel it respond sluggishly. It's no mind powers that hold me here, but my own will.

Crow must feel it too because he grips me tighter, becoming more excited, that must is evident from the feel of him pressing against my back. He kisses me once more on the marks, nibbling with his lips. Despite myself, my back arches. Lovers that have the same body but different techniques, you couldn't ask for more.

My whole body begins to react. Instead of pulling myself away, I push back towards him, feeling his rigid member pressed against my lower spine.

Crow lets out a low moan as my movement rubs my body closer against him. "You know the more you do that, the more excited I get, and the more excited I get, the more rougher I become." I feel his canines lengthen as he rubs them gently along my neck.

I know. Oh god how I knew. But I want this, more than anything, and my traitorous body rubs closer to him. Crow rumbles his approval and his hand reaches round to rip my trousers off with vampiric strength. I gasp even though I've seen this done many times before. It was just as well I wasn't particularly fond of this suit.

He slides his hand to cup me, forcing my legs to part and massages me gently. He lets one finger explore me, then two, rubbing gently. Each movement tugs at me and I feel myself become wet.

"You know you want this," Crow whispers as my body shudders with anticipation.

"I do not," I lie between clenched teeth. Of course I do, but it's all part of our game to deny what we most want.

Crow chuckles, the low rumbling causing a thrill to pass up my spine. He knows that drives me crazy. "That's not what your body is saying."

My hand travels down to meet his. "No!" but it is almost a groan-whisper as my hand pushes Crow's hand harder and firmer into me. Crow complies, sliding his fingers in and out with a forcefulness that I find excites me more, my hand guiding him deeper.

My other hand has strayed behind me, unzipping the fly of Crow's jeans. I enter and navigate my way finding him rigid and pulsing under heavy silk boxers. The feel of him straining against the soft fabric is almost too much and an illicit moan escapes my lips. 

I navigate my hand past the so soft fabric to touch his bear skin. I feel the moist tip and let my hand travel down, massaging his member. Oh yes, both boys were alike, big and long. My hand closes fully around the shaft and I clench my hand hard, making him groan with need.

Crow knows that my body is his, nearly always was, but it belongs to Raven as well, just as the two of them belong to me and each other. He kisses the marks again, his tongue playing over them and I feel my body respond to every little lick.

I can't stand it, and I am so close to breaking point. "Please," I whisper.

Crow presses me closer, almost making me beg for it right here and now, but my pride is the only thing that keeps me from giving into him fully. "Say it," he whispers. "Say you want me now. Say you want me inside you. Say yes."

"No."

"Say it!"

"No!"

My body feels limp and unresponsive to my mind. I won't even be able to voice my objections for very much longer, my body is testament to that. My hand moves from his member to push his jeans down, feeling the tip press against my lower back, his shaft traveling the full length between my buttocks.

That, in itself, almost breaks me.

Crow's other hand rips my top off in the same fashion he had my trousers, and the moment his arm stopped supporting my from the top, I slump forward like a rag doll, all resistance drained out of me. The only thing still holding me up is his hand still buried within me.

I'm so close to him, the only thing separating us is his hand. He feels me moist against him, an open invitation. I know, I feel him pressing up against my folds, his tip resting where his fingers had entered, and feel also his excitement as it mounts up.


Two edged sword this. It cuts us both. I need him, he needs me.

Crow can't stand it, I can feel it in his thoughts, he would take me against my will if needs be, but he'd take me now. "Say it," it is almost a plead.

He removes his hand, letting his tip rest just in the entrance. My her body tries to press up against him, but he holds me down effortlessly.

One little word and it would all be mine. One little word, but, oh, such an important word.

"Yes," came the quiet sigh, so quiet Crow almost misses it. "Yes, I want you. Yes, I want you inside me." 

He drops to his knees behind me, laying me gently on the floor, the long carpet brushing against my nipples. I get to my knees, raising myself toward him, legs separated.

With an animal groan, he enters me roughly and fully, pulling me towards him as he thrusts in again and again.

I push up, thrilled at this type of treatment, Crow leaning over me, his chest rubbing against my back as he continues to thrust deeper and stronger. He shifts slightly and then thrusts deeply.

My back buckles as I let out a cry. He's found that one spot within me and keeps running himself over and over it. 

He finds the marks his brother had made and bites down. I scream in passion as my head snaps back, that little bit of pain bringing me higher and I push closer to him. He reaches round and offers her his wrist to me and I clamp my mouth around, biting down.

Crow groans and thrusts harder into me, bringing out a reserve of strength that I never knew he possessed. I feel my tail grow and know from the silken sounds of feathers that his wings had grown too. Sure enough, feathers brush my sides as his chest rubs over my back.

So close, I feel myself starting to come. He reaches around with his other hand to press on my clit, and that tips me over. My whole body spasms, but he still thrusts into me, almost grunting as he forces his way through my clenching body.

One wave becomes another, moans almost becoming screams of ecstasy as he drives himself deeper and deeper into me. I feel him bumping against my cervix with every thrust and his sack slaps against his hand still pressing my clit.

Finally, his thrust become erratic and I know he's coming close as yet another orgasm flows over me. He lets out a cry of triumph and fills me.

He thrusts a couple more times then withdraws, falling down beside me as I slump forward. A black wing folds itself around me and draws me closer.

I fall into a contented sleep while in his strong arms.

Who knows. I might just be the instrument that starts their reconciliation.

Yeah. And pigs might fly.



Reconciliation Ch. 02: Recovery



You are probably tired of this, but the story ‘Very Bad Things’ gives a bit of insight to the events in this story, though, as always, I tried to make it stand alone. Somehow, the stories keep connecting.  Probably because I keep reusing the characters.  Stories sometimes linger.
Bear in mind as you read this: this is a story about people and how they deal with their emotions, situations, and most importantly, their Choices and the Consequences of their Choices.  So any other elements are mere dramatic license to highlight the actions and give perspective.  Ignore them if you don’t like them.

Part Too of Tree

Kelly DeVecchio closed her locker and sighed.  It had taken a whole lot of crawling and begging not to be sent to some private school with barbed wire, guard dogs and…shudder…nuns.  Her father had screamed at her for two hours straight without taking a breath. Her friend Pauline was grounded for a month, the two were forbidden to talk to one another, and she personally felt that her parents would let her out of her room when she hit about thirty…right next to death’s door.

Surprisingly, there were no rumors around school. She’d kept quiet about her plans and Pauline had kept her mouth shut.  When, in one frantic whispered conversation they had before her cell phone was unceremoniously confiscated, she had outlined the highlights of what her uncle had done, Pauline had sworn to keep her mouth shut.

A locker clanged down the hall from her.  Standing there in her torn up jeans and woefully out of fashion top stood Regina Watkins.  If tales were to be believed, she had a single alcoholic mother who had a string of shady boyfriends. Guys like Rick Kelly shuddered.  For the thousandth time just today, she kicked herself for her idiocy.

Regina had been caught early in high school making out with Tori Goldstein.  Tori swore that Regina had come on to her, though Regina denied it.  Tori was prettier and richer, so Tori won, though Kelly, who had been to a few of Tori’s group sleep overs and seen how she was, had some doubts about both her character and sexuality.

Regina’s new school nickname was now ‘Queenie’ though the stupider than normal guys called her ‘Queerie’.  Regina hadn’t had a date since that Kelly had heard about.  Mostly she hung with the stoners or alone.  She’d been suspended once after being caught with a joint, thankfully off school grounds.

Kelly thought about what life must be like for her.  She turned on her heel and strode right over to her.  “Regina…hi.”

Regina quickly closed her locker and started scanning the hallway.  She looked suspiciously at Kelly, who was frankly on the entire other end of the social spectrum from her.  “Waddaya want?”

“I just wanted to talk to you for a couple minutes.  Are you busy?”

“Why?”  Again with the suspicion.  How many times had she been kicked by her peers to have an attitude like this, Kelly wondered.

“We don’t know each other.  I wanted to talk to you about the school dance.”

“Why?”

Kelly sighed.  “Look…I know what you are thinking.  This is a trick…or I’m trying to set you up.  Or I’m just giving you pity.  I can’t prove it, but this doesn’t have anything to do with that.  I’m grounded.  I can’t work on the art for school dances.  My parents would have an aneurism if I went.”

“What did you do, use the wrong salad fork at dinner?”

“No.” Regina’s rejoinder died at the look in Kelly’s eyes.  “I did something worse than you ever did or were even rumored to do…but I got away with it.  Someone helped me out.  I owe.  I owe BIG TIME.”

“So I’m some ‘project’?”

“No.” Kelly changed her approach. “Do you know where my art prize from that art competition we competed in last year is?”  Before Regina could say anything, she said “It’s in a box in my closet.  Do you know why?  You were robbed.  You should have won.  Hands down.  No contest.  I worked my heart out in that competition.  I must have put in 100 hours on that drawing.  It was good.  Really good.  But yours was better.  I won because I had better connections…and that totally ruined the prize for me.”

“Really?”  Regina’s face had an admixture of hope and caution.  Her face hardened a bit “Why didn’t you refuse it?”

“Would you?  My parents were there.  And I was wrong then.  I should have.  I apologize.  So…tell me where you got your idea for that painting.”

Cautiously, the two started talking art as they headed for the buses, bouncing ideas off one another.  Regina said she’d die before she did anything for Kelly’s clique, but Kelly thought it was an excellent entry for her into ‘society’.  She was trying to talk her into thinking about it when Kelly’s Past almost ran into her.

“Hey, Kells!” Rick said.  His arm was in a cast and he was leaning on a cane, but he was giving her that charming, raffish smile he had used so many times. “Did you miss me?”

Kelly stopped dead and her face fell. “No.  What are you doing here?”  Her voice hovered around 2 degrees above Kelvin.

“Well…I was worried about you, traveling with that crazy man.  I wanted to see if you were okay and…you know…reconnect.”

“Reconnect.  RECONNECT!  AFTER YOU…” she looked sideways at Regina.  “Could you excuse me for a minute?” Regina nodded and ducked around the hallway corner.  This section of hallway was reasonably empty.  It was getting late and shd didn’t want to waste a lot of time with this loser.  Her parents were keeping her on a tight leash.

“I am going to give you one minute to apologize and get out of here.  And that’s a gift.  So get out of here before my Uncle Reggie DISconnects you from important body parts!”

Rick’s face split into a much less pleasant grin. “Ooooh!  I’m shivering.  ‘Uncle Reggie’ is in Riverside hospital.  I got a friend who runs a wrecker and he picked up his car from where it was wrapped around a tree.  My brothers and I was looking for him.  Seems he had hisself a little ack-cee-dent.  Maybe he’s going to die. Come one…don’t be like that.  You seemed pretty happy.  Don’t you remember the good times we had?  Tell you what.  You be nice to me and maybe I forget what the asshole did to us.  Come on…we was good together.  You wouldn’t want me to start…talkin’.”  There was a darkness behind his eyes that Kelly noted.

Ice water was running through her veins at news of Reg’s hospitalization and her breath rate increased.  Panic ran through her head.  But…she took a deep breath.  She focused on what was important, and it wasn’t this piece of whale shit.  What would her Uncle Reg do?  “Regina…I know you’re listening.  Come out here.” A shamefaced Regina came from around the corner.

“You wanna talk?  You go ahead and say whatever SHIT you want to say about me.  How stupid I was!  How incredibly….idiotic.  Any girl who sees you and sees me will laugh…LAUGH at me…and they’ll be right.”  His face started turning red in anger. “So you go ahead and start talking.  And then I’ll start talking.  I’ll mention the teenth’s you were dealing right in front of my face.  I’ll talk about that box in the closet you wouldn’t let me touch.  I’ll talk about words like ‘statutory rape’, ‘intent to distribute to a minor’, ‘larceny’, ‘blackmail’, ‘conspiracy to commit assault’. You got two witnesses here. And let me tell you another damn thing!  I have THREE Godfathers, not one.  One’s a Teamster.  The other is a cop.  Uncle Reggie is the NICE one.” She stretched the truth a little.  “Maybe I have a conversation with them.  And while I’m at it, I’ll talk to my daddy on Saturday morning.  That’s when he golfs with his friend the ADA…that’s Assistant District Attorney for those of us who never graduated high school.  So while he’s working on your case, I’ll be crying my eyes out to a jury and my daddy will be offering pro bono legal work to all your future prison guards to help me select what color your new HUSBAND is going to be in jail!  So you wanna talk?  LET’S TALK!”

Kelly was taking long shuddering breaths while Regina looked incredulously at her companion.  Rick was stringing things together in his head. “Let me tell you one last thing RICK!  You are on school property talking to a minor girl.  Do you know exactly how much time you are looking at if you have even a goddamn joint on you?  It’s plastered on signs all over the place.  Now…get out of here before I start screaming!  And I’ll be sure to mention this conversation to Uncle Reg.” She was gratified to see Rick blanch a little at that.

With a hostile look, Rick started caning his way down the hallway. “You haven’t heard the last of this.” He threw over his shoulder.

Kelly kept it together until Rick turned a corner and then she almost fell over in the hallway.  Regina quickly squatted down and put her arms around her. “You weren’t kidding!  Remind me never to get on your bad side!  Oh my God, what are you going to do?”

Kelly slowly straightened up and wiped her face. She looked at her watch.  She noted that she had missed her bus, which meant her parents would go ballistic, but she dismissed this as a trifling concern at this point. “Fuck him!  He’s a liar.  He’s a loser.  I have more important things to worry about.  Reggie…oops, I mean Regina…could you please do me a favor and help me find a ride to Riverside?”

A couple of phone calls later, Regina had packed the two of them into some thrashed out car with a tattooed character by the name of Spyke ‘with a y’. Kelly owed her parents a phone call so they wouldn’t worry.  Then she imagined the confrontation after that.  She looked at the handcuffs Spyke had hanging from his rear view mirror. “Do you have the keys to them?” she asked.  Some obligations just HAD to be paid…not matter the cost.

++++

Others were also paying attention to the life of one Reginald Perry Esquire.

The newspaper rustled.

“Oh…look.  Three men in By Way Trailer park were assaulted.  Investigation pending.  They were hospitalized.” Curtis noted.

“Do you think it’s them?” Andrea asked him.

“Maybe.  Tell me when you’re finished.” Curtis always was the faster reader.  Practice.

“Okay, turn.” She said.

The page rustled.

“Curtis!  Look here!” she started to read. “ ‘The man, identified as one Reginald Perry, was in a car accident in a blue Mustang on Frantz Road.  Alcohol was not suspected.  He is hospitalized in Riverside Memorial Hospital.’  What are you doing?” She asked as he started to wheel her away from the table.

“Well, since I’m aware of this situation, I have to get involved now.”  He made sure she was situated in front of the television and turned on Turner Classic Movies, carefully nestling the remote in her hand.  “It’s part of my job.”

She sighed sadly. “Woe unto thee, Reginald Perry.”

“Cute.  Do you need anything?” he asked.

“A small knife.”

Curtis laughed as he carefully locked the door.

++

Reg woke up, wondering where he was.  A quick glance around verified he was in a hospital room. Home again, home again, jiggity jig.  Oddly, there was a copy of some history book titled ‘Connections to Today’ on the credenza and…he looked twice…a HANDCUFF attached to one of the side guards of his bed.  What the very Hell?

Neither hand was handcuffed and the other side didn’t have a matching cuff on it.  He wasn’t sure what restraint policy in a hospital was, but it always seemed they used padded restraints and used two.  Did they release him?  Were the police after him?  He pushed the call button and quickly a nurse who was in the ‘hope she has a good personality’ category showed up to take his vitals.

Shortly thereafter a doctor showed up.  He was given a breakdown…HA…of his injuries.  Cracked ribs. Concussion.   Broken nose.  Sprained and abused legs and arm. The doctor recognized some of the injuries as coming from a fight, but Reg remained mum on that point.  He was judged well enough to change his meds and to get some food, something he desperately needed.

To his shock, he already had visitors.

Sally and Jim entered behind an orderly carrying a tray.  He gave Reg a fake smile and set the tray down in front of him.  Sally, constant busy body, stuck her finger in the plate cover hole and lifted it.  “This won’t do at all” she said, stopping the orderly and glancing at the square on the plate.

“Excuse me, miss?” the orderly asked, just the correct side of professional politeness.
“I said this won’t do.  Reggie hates lasagna.  Could you please ring down to the kitchen and find something else on the menu?  He has enough stress with being injured. We don’t need to add culinary trauma, do we?”

Muttering something incomprehensible, the orderly removed the tray and exited.

Reg was in too much pain and too tired to be outraged.  “You knew.  Three months and every time I ate over, you fed me lasagna.”

She sat on the edge of the bed and patted his hand. “Reg…you never said a word.  Every single time, you pretended and grimaced behind my back and I could SEE you choking down every bite…and you never said a word.”  She ran her finger back and forth over the rough weave of the hospital blanket.  “Full disclosure…part of it was I enjoyed sticking it to you a little bit. I was a wee bit angry with what you did to Beth.” She said dryly.

“You don’t say.” Reg said laconically.

“Yes…but Reg…I kept waiting for you to say something. I wanted to see how hard I could push you until you stood up for yourself.  Well…you were too polite to do it to me, though I heard about the ‘discussion’ at Phil’s house.”

She peered closer at his face.  “You look like hell.”  Sally ran her fingers on the bandages around his head.  “Oh Reg, your beautiful hair.” She said wistfully. “Reg…this is an important lesson for you to understand.  Maybe this is just me justifying my lasagna revenge…but we don’t hate YOU.  We LIKE you…we hate what you did to people.  I don’t know why you did those things, but we hate them so much that it…just blots out the parts of YOU we like.  We hate what you did to us.  We hate what you did to Beth…and all those other couples.  So please stop! Even if you don’t intend it, and I know sometimes you do, you ARE hurting people.”

“But the core Reg…the one who helps Hank fix his car, the guy who buys tools he doesn’t even need to help fix the roof,” she paused “the one who did that amazing thing for Kelly…that’s who we want in our lives.  You don’t need these facades.  We even like you if you don’t like lasagna.”  She patted his hand again.  “You get better soon. We took care of collecting the things in your car and cleaning up your apartment.  Seems you’re moving.  If you change your mind and stay, come over to our house and we’ll grill up some steaks in celebration.  If you still want to move…well…give us a call so we can help you do it properly this time and give you a sendoff, though you’ll devastate some people if you do that.”

Reg rattled the handcuff.  “What is this about?  Am I under arrest or something?” If Kelly was talking, an arrest seemed very likely…not that he was sure he cared anymore.

Jim smiled and Sally bit her lip.  “We heard about it from the nurses.  It seems a young lady is…mmm…quite appreciative of what her Uncle Reg did for her.  Somehow she heard about you being in the hospital and she hitched a ride from her friends to the hospital.”

Sally took over.  Reg had seen this before in couples, where they seemed to automatically know when one was supposed to stop talking and the other took over.  As a single man, it astonished him when he saw it…and made him a touch envious. “Well, you can just imagine how her parents would take that idea, and Kelly knew it too.  So she brought a set of handcuffs with her.  I have no idea where she found such things.  And she cuffed herself to your bed.  I’m sure her parents just LOVED that symbolism…”

Jim started snickering.  “When Wendy and Phil got here, there was naturally some excitement.  Screaming, shouts for bolt cutters, security, doctors, nurses.  Kelly kept moving the cuff and kicking at people like some Occupy Wall Street nitwit every time they tried to get her out of here.  It was pandemonium.  You were lucky you were drugged.  Anyway, security and the doctors finally shoved everyone who wasn’t handcuffed to something out of the room to calm things down.  Wendy took another look at the room and saw Kelly had been quietly doing her homework before they arrived and , so she had a ‘come to Jesus’ meeting with Phil and she told Kelly they would leave her alone as long as she didn’t do anything stupid and did her homework.”  Jim paused significantly. “Then Wendy brought Kelly a nice cold Diet Coke.”

Reg thought about it a second and started to laugh, a gulping sound as his various body parts took revenge on his mirth. “How many cans did it take?”

“Twenty ounce bottles and just two.” Sally answered, a smile crossing her face.

“Phil thinks he’s the smartest guy in that house, but he’s just the most educated.” Reg laughed, coughing at the end.  “I guess she didn’t think of the bed pan.”

“EWW!” Sally’s face twisted up in distaste.  “Are you SURE you know women, Reg?  Once she had to unlock herself, the conversation obviously changed.  Anyway, you get better soon. Don’t worry about anything.  We have your back.  I need to take care of the kids” She touched the side of his face again, then gave her husband a kiss on the lips to establish her hierarchy of affection and left.

Jim looked at Reg with a pained and aggrieved expression.  “How could you do that to us?”

“What?” Reg asked confused.

“If you’d asked…if you let us know…we’d have come and backed you up in a heartbeat when you went for Kelly.  Well I know I would.  Phil, of course…and yeah, Hank too.”

Reg tried to curl up facing away from Him and get comfortable, not answering.

“No!  You don’t get to do that!” Jim stated. “We called and you came and we…you can’t hold what Phil said against him.  It was his daughter.  We…I…we knew you’d come.  Reg, you didn’t need to do that alone.”

“Yes I did.”

“No you didn’t.”

“Yes. I. Did.  What was I going to do?  Call you?  You have Sally and your kids.  Phil is an officer of the court.  If anything…ANYTHING bad happened, he might lose everything.  Hank?  He’s on the road all the time and he’s married too.  Besides, “ Reg said mournfully, “This big crushing mass of guilt of all the horrible things I’ve done.  All that is bad enough.  I couldn’t take a chance and add to it.  Besides, you all…well not you, the others treated me like pond scum.  I wanted to show them.  I wanted to show them they were wrong.”

Jim sat next to the bed.  “The upshot is one DeVecchio thinks you can walk on water.  Her mother is in turns appalled, delighted and very very guilty at how she treated you in the end.  Phil…Phil…if you ever pay a cent on legal fees again for anything, it’s because you didn’t call him.  Right now, he has half his associates working to bury the police in paperwork about your accident and is pulling every string he’s even heard of to cover any…issues which might come up.  If he can’t do it, he’ll find someone else who can.  AND pay for it.” Phil was a notorious tightwad. “And…” Jim trailed off.

“And?”

“And if it were up to him, he’d horsewhip you till his arm falls off if he saw you within a mile of any of his women. He’s…conflicted about this.  There are already huge arguments in his house over the guest list for Thanksgiving.  Allowing Kelly to visit is a very bitter pill for him to swallow.  He’s getting it from all the women, even Sally, so go gently if you see him.” Jim cleared his throat and looked embarrassed. “So…Kelly…”

Reg winced. “I don’t blame Phil and to answer your insinuation, no.  I didn’t rescue her from some scumbag just so she could link up with another one. She needs to get a good man in her life.  Besides, she’s way too young for…for anyone!  I like sadder but wiser girls.” He tried to joke.




Reconciliation Ch. 02: Recovery



“She’s wised up a lot.  And yes, I had to check.  You have a history.  I think you are selling yourself a little bit short, by the way.  Short of chaining her up at home, they had to agree to allow her to visit after school.  The door has to be open when she stops by.” He said pointedly.  “She has some serious crush going on.”  He examined Reg’s face for deception.  “Break it to her gently.”


++

Wes sat, champing his jaw.  This was incredibly unfair!  HE was the victim here. SHE had cheated on HIM!  Why should he have to pay a fucking dime?

“Since he is so adept at trying to hide assets, this court rules that Mr. Moran needs to turn in his passport to the court immediately so he doesn’t have an urgent need to take a trip to some tropical islands with private banking laws.  In addition, the court is ordering that a forensic accountant, paid for by the plaintiff, does a thorough analysis of his assets, income and any other special ‘arrangements’ he’s tried to make with his employer.  I would urge the defendant’s counsel to depose his superiors at his place of employment to get them on record.  Of course, this is part of the now ongoing court costs which will be paid by the plaintiff.” The Judge intoned.

There was a quick and hurried consultation.  “Your Honor, Mr. Moran’s employment prospects would be grievously hampered by such depositions which would be prejudicial. As a freelance consultant, his contract might be dropped and that would harm his ability to pay child support…possibly irreparably.”

The judge looked at the attorney and then picked through the files set in front of him.  “Your client was a full time career man at that firm until 4 days before he filled a motion to divorce his wife.  Now we come to find he isn’t unemployed, but he willingly decided to go freelance to hide his income.  Well, Mr. Moran, live by the contract, die by the contract. Let us not forget that so far, Mr. Moran is six months behind on his child support payments as it is, so if he loses his job, it really won’t change his children’s situation in the slightest, will it counsel?  And another thing…because of the…slippery nature of your client, the court is mandating a GPS ankle bracelet be put on before he leaves the court house today.”

“Your Honor!” the lawyer implored.

“A discreet ankle bracelet.  It seems your short wearing days are over for a short time until all these accounts and such are analyzed. Mr. Moran.”

“Are you ffff…kidding me?  SHE cheats on me and I get treated like a criminal?” Wes leapt up and started screaming as his lawyer, appalled, tried to get him seated and shut up like a good little client should.

The judge looked at him with a jaundiced eye.  “The court fully appreciates that what she may or may not have done to you was immoral.  However, the law is not good in dealing with ‘he said/she said’ issues.  What we CAN judge is perjury.  You stated in this Financial Affidavit that you had revealed all your income and assets.  You lied to the court.  In addition, you were given a preliminary order to pay her child support and alimony.  You didn’t.  So this is a separate matter from your marital woes, Mr. Moran.  You ARE a criminal.  Now, counselor, I would suggest you keep control of your client or I could easily remedy keeping track of him in a much more direct fashion…”

Wes almost got into three accidents on the way home, he was so enraged.  He provided his salary…well…most of it to his family.  He spent time with them.  He’d loved his wife.  The other women were just distractions.  Bonuses for being such a stand up guy to his family.  They weren’t anything serious.  Didn’t he deserve a separate identity?  Not like her fucking around with a former boyfriend.  His eyes almost bulged from his head in rage.  And what thanks did he get?

Reggie.  It was all his fault.  He’d made his life sound so wonderful.  He kept telling the stories and he’d lead him on.  So…maybe he wasn’t paying as much attention at home as he should have.  But the slime fuck had lead him into being distracted and then slipped behind his back to nail that whore of a wife of his!

He slammed his car door and almost ran up the steps, he was so keyed up with adrenaline.

There, wedged In the top of his peep hole was a business card.





Reconciliation Ch. 03



It has been two nights since the night Crow met me at my office and nothing can erase the memory, not that I want to anyway. Man, even as I remember the way he took me, I start to get wet, my whole body tingling.

Once, long ago, it wouldn't have been just the two of us. Raven would have been there too.

Now, since we've all violated the oath, I bide my time. My body yearns for both of them, yes, but I can control my body. Nothing to do with vampire powers that one. Women have been doing this since the dawn of our time. But the men...

It's almost like giving a drug addict a taste of their drug of choice, one taste is never enough. The need starts off as a tingle, just at the back of the mind. The tingle becomes a burn, steadily growing until the whole body aches for the next hit.

This is how I plan to bring them to me. They will come of their own wills, and they will do anything for another taste of me. Even reconcile their differences.

This is the plan, but, like all plans, there is a drawback.

I will become just as fixated on the next taste as they will be.

Not much of a drawback, but one that makes me wonder if what I'm doing is right.

Too late for that. I've called both of them to my room. Neither of them know that the other is coming, but you can be sure that they've guessed.

There's a knock at the door.

I let out a sigh. Time to get started.

I know, even before I open the door, that it's Raven on the other side of it. I can feel his thoughts, his energy, but even then I would have known it was Raven just by the fact that he knocked. Crow would have just breezed his way in.

I open the door and my first glance at Raven takes my breath away. His long black hair is tied back loosely in a low pony tail, flowing down his back, some of the ends drifting over his shoulders.

His pale chest gleams in the soft candle light of my room, and I catch glimpses of it every time the wine red silk shirt parts when he shifts as he does when he walks into my room. As he stalks in, his black velvet trousers whisper and I have to snatch my hand back from caressing the taught fabric.

I sit on my bed, knees suddenly weak. Is this such a good idea? I don't know. But despite what Crow had done for me, I still feel the pull of Raven's body.

"I know that you slept with Crow."

Those weren't the words I was expecting. "Why shouldn't I?" All strength has returned and I stalk over to where he stands. "At least one of us had to honour the oath made." My voice takes on a mocking tone. " 'If one of us cannot have you, the other cannot either,' those were the words, weren't they?"

He flinches and looks away. I don't mean to hurt him, but he can't blame me for this one.

"Yes, they were," he whispers.

I reach up and touch his cheek, gently pulling him around to look at me. His eyes are filled with hurt and need. Yes, I was right. I had given him a taste and it wasn't enough.

I give in and raise on tippy toe to kiss his soft lips, hands feeling the smooth, toned chest under the silk. His arms enfold me and hold me tight to him as his mouth crushes mine. My knees go weak again and I rest against him.

"Mind if I cut in?"

The voice comes from nowhere and we break apart, almost breathless.

Crow sits on the edge of my bed. We both didn't hear him come in. Careless of me, but then, I did invite him in.

"What are you doing here?" Raven growls.

Uh-oh. This isn't going to plan, but then, what did I expect? Them to fall into each other's arms and pledge to be good little boys?

"I invited him."

Raven releases me and turns away. "Why?"

I watch Crow as I speak. "It took all three of us to mess this up, same as it will take all three of us to fix it."

Crow nods, his black hair whispering over the black silk shirt he wears. Both of them know silk is my favourite and both know that I loved the feel of them behind it. It almost makes me laugh. They both knew that they were going to get a fix of me, but they didn't know that they would get a fix of each other as well.

"And if we refuse?" Crow can be a bastard at times, but at the moment all his voice holds is resignation, but a little hope.

I step away from Raven. "Then you can never have me."

I hear them both breathe in sharply and I know the impact of my words, it makes my heart ache even contemplating it. It meant that there would never again be a chance like this, never again would either of them touch my body. This would be the last time.

I shut my eyes against the pain in my chest. To never feel either of them for the rest of eternity. I don't think I could bear it.

A silken whisper by my side makes me open my eyes to see Raven there. He bows to me. "My lady, I would do anything for you. I would even walk through the sunlight should you wish it. I could never cause you such pain as you have shown tonight."

And here I was thinking that I had hidden it. He reaches over and touches my arm, that little movement making me shudder slightly.

Wordlessly, we both gaze at Crow. He stands in a liquid movement, all trace of mockery gone. "I would have lasted to eternity knowing that my brother felt just as much pain as I do at your loss, but I wouldn't want to wish that on you."

I stare at him for a second then turn to Raven to see his reaction. He nods to his brother as his arm encircles my shoulders, bringing me to his chest. With his other arm, he reaches out for his brother.

I cannot see Crow's reaction, but it doesn't matter when I feel him press himself against my back, pinning me to his brother. I crane my neck to see them both and my breath catches. Mirror images stare at each other for a second before their mouths touch. 

My heart starts to speed up when they break from each other to gaze down at me, their pale skin golden in the light.

Raven bends his head to kiss me while Crow kisses my neck. I moan against Raven's mouth and he pulls back.

I reach up and touch his cheek and my other hand caresses Crow at my neck. "Make me forget the past two hundred years," my voice hardly above a whisper. "Make it seem like it never happened."

Raven smiles. "As my lady wishes."

"And her servants shall obey," Crow's voice rumbles next to my ear.

Rough hands smooth over my shoulders and push the straps of my gown down. The slinky fabric flows over my skin as it drops to the ground and once again the twins press against my body. The velvet of Raven's trousers brush against my legs like fur while I feel Crow pressed hard through the soft leather of his trousers.

Raven reaches around me to his brother, untying the front of his trousers. The sharp intake of air by my ear lets me know that Raven has touched him in the first time in centuries.

As Raven pushes down Crow's trousers, I feel the heavy press of Crow's member against my lower back and lean back against his chest. Crow's hands travel up to cup my breasts as Raven kisses his way down my body. Crow lifts me up and then lowers me home.

I cry out as he fills me and he bites into my neck at the same time. He starts to move against me, the silk of his shirt rubbing against my back. My legs go weak, and I feel a hot breath on the inside of my thighs. Raven in there and he lifts my right leg up to rest on his shoulder.

I feel the hot breath again seconds before I feel his mouth and teeth as he bites into the soft flesh above the femoral artery.

I almost come right there and then as they drink and Crow picks up his pace, slamming into me as the blood lust takes him. There's an organic ripping noise followed by a silken whisper as Crow's wings erupt from his back, shredding the back of his shirt to ribbons.

He breathes heavily next to my ear and moans fill the air, it takes a moment for me to realise the moans are coming from my mouth.

Seconds later, Raven's mouth closes over my button and all thought escapes me as I come hard. He alternates between sucking my button and running his tongue over Crow as he still pounds into me. Crow lets out a low moan near my ear and the vibration sends a shiver down my spine.

His thrusts become erratic and he lets out a yell as he comes deep into me.

We stay still for moments, Raven lapping at our combined efforts, then he stands, the velvet of his pants falling from his hips as he does so and I gasp at the gleaming length of him as Crow withdraws, still hard.

Raven pushes against me, lifting me gently and I feel the tip of him travel up my thigh and press into my folds. He pushes in close and he's fully sheathed inside me. He slides his hands down my sides and picks me up under my thighs. I wrap my legs around him, the silk of his shirt rubbing against my nipples, and under that I can feel his hard chest.

Pressure at my secret hole makes me remember that Crow hasn't finished with me moments before he eases himself in. Shit that hurts, and I bite my lip to keep from crying out as both clamp their mouths on either side of my neck to drink as they begin to thrust deep into me. Hurts, yes, but in the good way.

Moans no longer describe the sounds coming from my mouth, they're too primal for that word, and screams would imply that I'm in pain. How ever you would describe the noise, I doubt if you could do it justice as the twins matched their rhythm, thrusting deep and hard into me at the same time.

Crow's wings enfold all of us as Raven's wings rip from his back and he cries out. Almost at once I'm enfolded in a feathery darkness where I can only feel and hear. I hear our combined moans and the wet sound of them thrusting into me. I feel every inch of them as they enter and withdraw only to thrust back in again.

Raven kisses me and I taste my blood on his lips, sweet and metallic, and the blood lust build inside me. I need blood. I need it bad.

As if reading my mind, Raven lifts his head back for me and I strike, canines digging into the salty flesh. Blood wells up in a metallic flow and I swallow greedily as the both of them thrust harder, starting to come. But by this time, so am I.

My mouth lift off Raven's neck and I shout out as I come once again.

Raven and Crow stay standing, me sandwiched between as we all regain even breaths, but as they withdraw, both of them are still hard as rocks. There's one thing to be said for vampires, we can keep going until we rub ourselves raw.

Crow steps back and Raven carries me to my bed, it's to be ours tonight. Crow lies down in front of us, his member stabbing into the air, his whole body inviting...

To be continued...



Reconciliation Ch. 03: Redemption



This is where the wheels fall off the bus, my lovelies. I have eccentric tastes in characters and literature, and here I am indulging myself. So if you see many outré elements, blame me, but some of the blame goes to Sister Benigna and my childhood development, may she rest in peace.

So, my reading advice is this: enjoy the elements you like. If there are parts which don't work for you, I understand. Make sure you measure the two parts separately in your comments.

This is the last part of the story...and I am not sure I will continue with Reg in the future. If so, he will be a very secondary character.

*****

For a week, Reg did nothing. He sat and watched television. He moved around, helping the kids get off to school and occasionally helping with their homework. It was appalling how much he had forgotten about fractions and he didn't recall having to learn them as early as Jimmy.

Beth had moved to the kids room, sleeping with April. She had insisted he get the big bed. The mere scent of her in the bedroom brought up an enormous amount of emotional turmoil. It brought back memories of summer nights, walking and holding hands, of bittersweet memories.

But this was a semi-foreign place to him. It had scents and jokes and comments which he was no part of. Like almost all children, he half remembered being the smallest part of the domestic equation, but the life of a bachelor was a far different thing than that of a pseudo parental unit; for example, when he had the bad sense to finish off the lunch meat as a late night snack on a school night or the fact that 9 p.m. became quiet time.

There were little things he noticed. Every time Beth's cell rang, the kids stopped what they were doing and looked at her, waiting, questions on their faces, if not on their lips. Occasionally, Jimmy glanced at Reg when it happened.

The conversations was kept specifically light. Beth asked how he felt, made sure he took his meds, got fed and rested. Even though she was a single mother of two, she went out of her way to do the 'hand and foot' thing to the best of her ability. She was now a single mother of three.

Reg protested. "Beth...you have enough on your plate. I got over something like this before on my own."

"Yes...This time you don't need to do it alone. Now you have your friends."

It was a warm comforting feeling...but it didn't sit entirely right. 

++

At the end of the week, he knew something was up when Sally arrived to shepherd the kids to her house for dinner. "It's lasagna." She told Reg with a wink. However, there were cooking scents coming from the kitchen and Sally just herded the kids to her car quickly and efficiently without revealing anything.

Dinner itself was reasonably utilitarian. Beth dressed respectably. This wasn't a romantic dinner for two, though the glances she shot him during the meal were speculative in a way that Reg had seen many times before. She was seeking something, but probably not cock. Something more ephemeral like the Truth.

After the meal, they sat on the couch, opposite poles with a chasm between them wider than the brocade.

"What happened to you, Reg? I mean...I went away to college and I came back and you were a real..." she stopped before she said something cutting.

"The short answer was you happened."

"What?" Anger marred her face. "How can you blame this all on me?"

"I said the short answer. A lot of things happened, but you were the big one."

She sat back, thoughtful. "I guess I need a longer answer."

"I had a lot of time to...reflect the last couple months. Thinking of 'how I became this huge disappointment to you.'" She had the grace to wince at that. "Plus Jim insisted I see Dr. Fredricks and that taught me a lot about myself." Reggie paused. "Look...you know my mom wasn't in the house."

"I know. And you never talked about what happened."

"My mom just...walked away from us. She met some guy and moved out. No forwarding address. No phone calls. Nothing. WE weren't enough to keep her at home." 

Beth had a premonition of where this was going. "Reg...I was barely 20!"

He continued as if he hadn't heard. "But you came along. I thought you were different. I thought you were nothing like my mom. We'd had 4 good years of dating. We'd...bonded. I was putting money away for a ring when you ambushed me with that little speech in the restaurant. How we 'drifted apart'." How 'long distance relationships don't work and we should experience our youth freely'. How 'we could be friends and maybe see what develops later'."

This was a close to word for word description of what she'd said those many years ago, which indicated a lot to Beth. "You became a lecher because I broke up with you?" She looked at him incredulously. "That seems pretty shallow..."

"I became a 'lecher' because you decided to break up with me AFTER you'd already been spinning around on dates for a year before you made it official. Do you think you were the ONLY person I knew at your college? I got the news about the same time you decided to ditch me."

"Reggie...we...I mean I was a dumb girl. Kids break up all the time. We weren't exclusive..." her eyes belied her words however.

Reg decided to push that point. "Would you have been shocked if I had tried to put a ring on your finger?"

"Of course no...t." She winced. That admission told her everything she knew about their relationship and the implicit exclusiveness. "Reg...people get over that kind of thing all the time."

"And Some People Don't! I was already in a bad place when it came to women. My MOM decided some young cock was more important than her son. I thought you were different. I did. But then you were dating everyone in sight."

"Reg, it was only 5 or 6 dates..." she remonstrated.

"Dates or guys?"

"Guys." She dropped her head. "It started out innocently. I mean...we had sorority mixers and you just had to have an escort. It's mandatory. Then a friend needed a fourth to make a matched set and to keep her safe from some octopus...and they were fun. I just wanted to see what life was like. I didn't mean to hurt you. My friends were pushing me to get out and live a little so I didn't see the harm. It didn't mean anything. Some of them were really nice guys. You'd have liked them. It was just college. I was planning on coming back."

"And did you have sex with them?" He pressed.

"NO!"

"So I still had that to look forward to." He sighed. "At least you had the...class to break up with me only a little late. But let's not pretend that our little 'talk' was to clear the decks so you could do just that: have sex with other men when we were exclusive. Now you wanted to be friends. I was 'disposed of' just like with my mom. If the best woman I knew could do that to me, what chance did I have with any others? Women...I decided I didn't want to be some bitter guy like my dad who never trusted a woman again. I decided to see them as a distraction. A pleasant distraction. I was already handsome and sporty and so I worked on being urbane and charming. It is amazing how easy it is to pick up women when you don't give a shit if they say yes or no." His tone took on a proud lilt. "And they flocked to me. Some of them were your good friends. Some of them never told you. They didn't care...and that just reinforced my opinion of women."

"You think guys don't fuck around?" she said defensively. That revelation hurt her and had her wondering which friends of hers were unreliable. "They cheat more than women!"

Reg laughed. "I know men fuck around. Why do you think half the married women I've met came to me?"

She was silent, wondering how to broach that particular topic. She decided to attack it head on. "How did that start? I mean...the married women. According to the others, you cut quite a swath with the married women in town."

"Mrs. Hendricks. Do you remember her?" She nodded. "I sold her a car. So of course she had my card. And she kept calling about that damned car. Little details. The seat heaters. The lights. 'Oh...I locked my keys in the car. Can you be a dear and help me get them out?' She...came on to me strongly. And...it felt good. It felt REALLY good. Some woman, a substantial MATURE woman thought I was worth risking EVERYTHING for. I was a dumb ass kid. What did I have to lose? I could just walk away. She, on the other hand, she could have lost it all. Finally I felt...as if someone wasn't treating me like something subpar."

"I never thought you were subpar, Reg." Beth whispered quietly.

"That isn't how it looked from my side."

She squared her shoulders where she sat and looked at him. "So...you became the man who stole your mother. Is that what you're telling me?"

Reg winced. "Yeah...and when Dr. Fredricks pointed out that fact...well...I hadn't wanted to connect the dots. And I'm still screaming at myself for that. It's...hard for me to look at women as anything but cheating bitches. I know it's not true intellectually...but the wounds go deep. Dad...he did the best he could but he didn't always help."

"So...what was I? Just another trophy to show that I was just as much a cheating slut as every other woman you'd bedded? Some culmination to see if you could drag me down even farther? Did you hate me so much that you had to do that to me?" She looked forlorn and shattered.

Reg's ire raised itself in defense of his ego. "WE did it together. Because let's not forget. WE had a history together. YOU weren't happy with Wes. You told me all about it or don't you remember?"

"So you took advantage. You never liked Wes." She threw at him.

"I never liked Wes because Wes had you! And I knew he didn't deserve you!" Reg shouted.

That Reg carried a little bit of a torch for her wasn't a surprise. It had been a touch of flattery which she indulged in quite a bit over the years. But this last...Her face froze. "What...what do you mean by that?"

"I mean Wes was constantly trying to get his dick wet. I am not saying this to make to excuse what you did. It's the truth. He wanted to go cruising with me all the time. He didn't take his vows seriously." Reg looked at her pointedly. "Neither did you. While I can say I fucked some married women, I have NEVER cheated on anyone."

Her shoulders shaking from restrained tears, she asked "You think that makes what you did alright?"

Reg could see her distress and his hands curled in impotent sympathy. "No...but I'm not allowing myself to be the only punching bag anymore. I'm owning the wrongs I did. But you need to own your own lump of mud and not blame everything on me."

The room was quiet as Beth sat there with her eyes closed, rocking back and forth. When it came, the explosion took Reg by surprise. "That miserable moralizing hypocritical piece of shit! Do you know how much he sneered at me when he found out? The names he called me? Do you know how...low he made me feel about myself? And now...NOW you tell me that he was trying to score that entire time? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? Get out! Just...get out!" They both sat there, frozen. Then slowly, he stood up. 

"Wait. It's late." She was silent for several moments. "I think...I think you've recovered enough here. You still have an apartment and you probably want to get on with your life without the 'distractions' of an old divorced woman and a couple of kids. I'll drive you over there tomorrow afternoon. I'd like to have my bed back please. You can sleep on the couch."

It was a sleepless night for Reg. It hadn't occurred to him that he had betrayed her twice by not telling her. The crying from the bedroom just reemphasized that point.

++

Back to an empty apartment. He had gotten used to the life, the warmth, and bustle of Beth's little house. His phone had a number of pictures of the kids and Beth on it.

It was his second day there when his phone rang. "Reg." It was Beth.

"Hi. Look...I wanted to apologize to you. You were right. It was a shitty thing to do. I think I was driven a little by bitterness. It's one more thing I'm really not proud of." He had to get this out now. He knew he might never get another chance.

"I...know. Reg...I have to ask you this. This is an important question."

"Over the phone?" He wanted to smell her scent again.

"Yes. Over the phone. It's this or nothing."

His shoulders slumped. "Okay. Ask. I owe you all the answers you want."

"Reg, you chased me for at least a month. Maybe longer. Man, you were smooth." There was a hint of accusation in her voice. "Hooked me like a fish." Her tome became matter of fact. A 'we will talk about these awful things like dispassionate grown ups' voice. But he could hear the tension...and curiosity. "But not once...not once did you hint that Wes was fooling around. Wasn't he fooling around already? Or did that come later? Were you trying to make both of us look like fools?"

"No. He'd been asking and insinuating for months before I chased you."

"Then why? Why didn't you throw it in my face? Why didn't you use it to help get me to sleep with you?" There was a silence on the phone. "Reg? Are you there? I thought you said you'd give me answ..."

"Yeah. I'm here." He took a deep breath. "I didn't tell you about Wes because when I decided to try to seduce you, I wanted you to be with me because you wanted me, not because you were angry at Wes. That...would have cheapened it for me. You weren't the only person to remember what we had, who didn't wonder constantly, day after day about what might have been. I see now why Dad was the way he was. He never got over Mom either." There, he'd said it. The phone buzzed faintly. "Beth?"

"I'm sorry." Her voice was broken. "I can't...I can't talk...I need to call you later." The phone clicked to the sound of her sobs.

Reg looked at his phone with its 'call ended' sigil. She'd said later.

++

Reg walked up the pavers to the backyard. The afternoon breeze carried the scent of honeysuckle and cut grass to tickle his nose. The scents and sounds of a barbecue wafted over the privacy fence at Jim's house. He carried a huge box of cupcakes he'd bought. Baking wasn't one of his skills, but he had a good rolodex of places with fun, cute and romantic gifts and foods.

In back, Jim was at his grill, a large box of hot dogs and burgers next to him. Reg didn't care about that. He waved absentmindedly. 

Hank was sitting by his wife, holding hands with her. It was nice he got a long weekend before Fall hit hard. But Reg didn't care about that either. He think he gave a nod to them. 

The teens of Jim and Hank were in a knot, occasionally talking to smaller kids. Jimmy waved and waved repeating "Hi Uncle Reg" until he was acknowledged with an absent minded wave which made him feel guilty in retrospect.

His hands were suddenly empty. He'd...he couldn't remember where the cupcakes went. His eyes cast around the yard three, four times, head swiveling back and forth. Finally, Sally came up to him, grinning and having mercy on him. "She's in the kitchen. I think she blew half her food budget for the week and she's fretting over all the things she's preparing. She's nervous as a cat."

Reg barely heard. He brushed by Sally as if she wasn't there, which got a laugh from behind him.

In the kitchen, she was bent over, putting a baking pan in the oven. She stood and saw him and her mouth quirked in a self conscious smile as her hand came up and with the back, tried to put some order into her slightly disarrayed hair. He found his fingers twitching, wanting to help her move the wayward strands back into place.

On the stool in the kitchen, he finished laughing at her story and put the burger down...and then he looked at it. Where did this burger come from? He glanced at the window and blinked. It was night! She was sitting, nibbling on some carrots and looking at him, a small smile on her face. What had they been talking about? They must have been talking. He looked around the kitchen. Most of the dishes, which he vaguely remembered helping her with, were gone or their empty remnants laid around them.

"I guess we lost track of time." Beth said with a grin.

"Ya think?" Reg had to grin back. "I'm surprised no one bothered us."

She looked at him with amusement. "Reg, they were walking in and out and around us for the whole," she glanced at the clock and blushed, "three hours."

What could he say besides "Oh"?

The kitchen phone rang on the breakfast island and she thoughtlessly reached over and picked it up. "Hello, Talbot residence." Her face dropped suddenly an her left arm immediately came across her body to grip her right. "What?" her tone was brusque. "They are having a barbecue." Pause "Yes, the kids are here..." Her eyes flicked to Reggie. "No...I don't...no, that isn't a good idea. If you want to see them, call me later and we'll arrange something...I don't think that's your business. Hang on." She muted the phone, gave Reg a look he couldn't decipher and went outside with the walk around phone to find Sally.

She didn't come back into the kitchen and he found her outside with the group, cleaning up. Whatever warm intimacy that existed earlier had evaporated.

++

Jim came in from a large trash run and found Sally on the couch, holding the kitchen phone. She did not look happy.

"What's up?"

"That was Wes. He, well he had a lot to say about us inviting Reg over here. But he really called to ask us to help him get back together with his children and away from Reg."

Jim slumped into the couch next to her. "Oh shit."

Principles were damnable things sometimes...

++

"People make a mistake about the nature of souls." Ed started to say to Reg. Reg was safely ensconced on a stool in the Second Chances Saloon looking at a vodka and soda. He's picked this place because he was least likely to see any of the players he used to hang around. There seemed to be a 'no scumbag policy' about the place...and he hoped it extended to armed psychopaths as well.

Reg squirmed uncomfortably. "I'm not religious. And this is hardly a church..." he said, looking around the Second Chance Saloon. "I don't believe in souls."

"Really? And what do you think is looking back at you when you force yourself to look in a mirror? This isn't a Christian concept. It's almost universal in mankind, from the Ancient Egyptians to the Mongols. Anyway, there is a spiritual element in mankind, regardless of your religion which always seems to find expression, a seeking to perfect this soul you say doesn't exist whether it be through religion, philosophy, vegetarianism, or the proper role of wealth distribution to ensure the perfection of society, which seems pretty darned ambitious if you ask me. Most religions only want to 'fix' one heart at a time and hope the aggregate will 'fix' society by itself, not try to change the whole thing enmass by tax code. The 'soul', which we'll use to describe this, is that part of you which is self reflective and involves your moral sense." Ed stopped and poured another drink. "But I'm also using it as a metaphor for one's history and story. What is Reg? Is he a broken wretched lecher who can't control his penis, or is he something else? The 'heart' of Reg, what people can expect from him, that is his 'soul'. And people spend their entire lifetime trying to figure out how to read that in others."

"So what am I and how do people get it wrong?"

"Most people imagine a soul is a shirt. A newborn baby gets a new white shirt, stainless and pure. He then proceeds to spend the rest of his life getting it grubby. People are then stuck trying to figure out how 'grubby' a person they will let into their lives and hearts. Some believe that their strength of character is so strong that their shirt can't be stained; that there is something intrinsically wrong in people who have grubby shirts. Others believe that faith in this or that, or regular acts of good works or donations can give their soul a spin cycle. But that is not the case."




Reconciliation Ch. 03: Redemption



"I must be drinking too much. Are we talking about souls here?" Reg asked.

"We are. I don't like the shirt metaphor. Because that isn't how humans judge one another. They don't just look at your 'soul's cleanliness now, if that is even possible; they recall what it was before. I prefer a 'tapestry' metaphor. A tapestry is a woven wall decoration, the pictures made by weaving and needlepoint. You 'sew' the picture into the fabric...and good luck trying to get the threads out. It can't be done without ruining the whole piece."

"Why are you telling me this?" Reg asked, nervous.

"Because the black things you've done will always be a part of the story of Reginald Perry. They can't be 'undone'. The harm you've done will last and linger." He saw Reggie's expression. "Disquieting, isn't it? Even if you move, you will know. The universe will know. But there is an answer. You aren't finished weaving. When people look back at the whole 'tapestry' of Reginald Perry's life, you can make what you did prior a footnote...or it can be the major theme of the piece. You can't undo the dark. There are still a lot of people out there who will hate you...and for good reason. You hurt them deeply. And one day, you will probably have to pay a price for all the wrongs you did. But that isn't an excuse not to do good, to not try to make things up. But you need to do that for you. For the mirror. Not because you are afraid of karma running you over."

"So...how do I do that? 'Cause I'm at a loss."

"You need to pay the world back. I'm not sure how...but I'm thinking about it." 

Ed looked at his clientele and topped off a few drinks down the bar and returned. "This place is probably a bit different than the places you've usually hung around in. How do you like it?"

"Not bad." Reg shrugged. "The people seem a bit sadder. But they seem pretty settled. This is more a working class joint...except you got a nice mix. Not sure why Hector and the bunch were bellyaching about being banned from here. The talent pool is pretty sparse. Only three or four targets here."

Ed was in the midst of putting a bottle back on the shelf when he froze. "What?"

"I said it's a nice place. A mixed crowd."

"No...FOUR?!? You think we have four cheaters here?" His eyes did a quick inventory of his regulars. He'd heard quite a few of their sins.

Reg felt uncomfortable. "I don't know that I'd say 'cheaters'. But I can see..." he slowly turned his head and scooted in his seat to nonchalantly take an inventory. "I can see...yeah. Three girls I'd definitely put in the 50/50 category and a strong 'maybe'."

Ed seemed outraged. "Who?"

Reg thought about this and leaned in. "Can you keep a secret?" Ed nodded. "So can I. I am not about to slur these women just on your say so. Maybe I'm wrong. I said 50/50. But I don't do that any more."

"Tell me about these women you were cheating with. Not the single ones, the married ones." Ed asked curiously. "I have a few of my own theories on infidelity."

"They write books about these things. But one thing about infidelity which drives some people crazy. There's always a reason."

Ed raised an eyebrow. "A reason?" he said skeptically.

"Yep. A reason. I didn't say it was a good reason, but it's like perceptions: it's real to them. Some of these women...I got to give them props. They are toughing out soulless marriages. Call it 20%. Mind you, I only have their side, but if half of it is true, it's amazing they are still there. Another 40% are sort of up in the air. You can see their point...sort of. But you kind of wonder if they really put the effort into things or just let them slide as much as the men supposedly did."

"And the last 40%?" Ed asked.

"They are just straight up selfish bitches." Reg acknowledged.

++

"Horrible." Curtis intoned offhandedly. Hmm. Seven letters down. Starts with an 'I' from 'Idiotic'.

"Asshole." He threw in when he heard his client wind down, looking for a comment.

"And take a cheese grater to the face and...!" The client's arms made the totally unnecessary sawing motions with his hands to demonstrate what he meant. "And...and...do you have a branding iron somewhere? Or maybe a blow torch?"

Curtis nodded distractedly and looked at the cut out crossword puzzle taped to a piece of paper on his clip board. When he was bored at these client meetings, as he so frequently was, he liked to take a random crossword puzzle and try to fill in all the openings with adjectives describing his clients and have them all fit together. He'd never gotten it to work so far, but this client showed promise. I-N-S-I-P-I-D "Sharpened garden weasels tend to be better at leaving the kind of scars you are looking for. Cheese grater scars fade." He noted professionally.

The client railed on.

"The whore." Curtis said absentmindedly. The silence stretched on, so he looked up at his client looking askance at him.

"You're calling my mother a whore?"

"Oh...sorry...I thought we were talking about your whore of a wife not your whore of a...never mind."

Andrea sat there with a red wig, a large hat and a big pair of sunglasses. Curtis noted she was smiling vacuously. When she didn't want people to know her thoughts, she tended to put on that expression. The stupider the smile, the more emotional she was. Right now, her I.Q. seemed to be hovering around a 2. He sighed. Not unexpected, but still...

They were meeting in a library reading room, which tended to be quiet, open to the public and anonymous. Curtis had carefully selected one where the Children's Section was far away from the reading rooms to protect her sensibilities and triggers.

"Anyway, when can you start?" the man asked. 

Andrea had her own way of dealing with meetings like this: she went over her personal 'to do' lists on her iPad to try to distract her. Buy little Jennifer Acero down the street a birthday present for Saturday. Make sure to refill Mr. Mkertchian's prescriptions and find out if Curtis was still slipping him bottles of booze. A man of his age shouldn't be drinking, no matter what Curtis said about Choice. Wire brush Moloch's grates for the neighborhood barbeque. Buy more 9mm wadcutters for practice. Do the monthly sniper rifle cleaning. Life was very busy for a modern housewife.

She noted that the Envelope still lay on the table, untouched by her husband. That bespoke volumes to her. So much so that she felt confident enough to ask the question on her mind. "So...how are your children Mr. Moran?" There was a trace of acid in her voice.

"Moran? Who's this Moran guy?" Wes said disingenuously.

Andrea caught the briefest of eyerolls from her husband before he responded. "Please Wesley Moran. There is a certain presumed...intimacy when one discusses these matters. One can't stand on rather thinly concealed pseudonyms. Not if you want the job done properly and professionally. Or did you think that we presumed that you found our number on a bathroom wall? My clientele is select. No, you got our number from the card you have in your pocket. You've sat there giving me a laundry list of atrocities, mutilations and injuries you want inflicted upon someone, but you have not given us a name." Curtis paused and he chewed his lower lip. "Typically, the men seem to blame the wives..." he said delicately.

"Beth? BETH? No! Why would I...she's their mother! She's a good mother! Why would I want to do that to my kids? Who would take care of them?"

Andrea nostrils flared but was otherwise quiet. "Who indeed?" Curtis said laconically.

"No...I want you to get Reggie Perry. He's a..." Wes stopped because Andrea closed her iPad cover with an explosive snap. She reached down and picked up her purse and put it on her lap, unzipping the top, stowing the iPad and glancing speculatively at the man in a disturbing way, a dreamy smile on her face.

Curtis rolled his eyes. He reached over and touched her leg below her skirt and above her knee. She started at the contact. He spoke slowly. "We're pretty much done here. Why don't you go and get the car and I'll be outside in a few moments." She glanced at the envelope still sitting on the table, then looked at him, and nodded. She walked out without a backwards glance.

"What exactly is going on?" Wes asked. "Is there some kind of problem here?" This 'meeting' already had him nervous and the way the redhead was glanced at him was freaky.

"We cannot take your business." Curtis said simply.

"What? Why? What do you mean?"

"We have what the attorneys call a 'conflict of interest.' The company," At Wes' raised eyebrow, he repeated "The Company has certain obligations to Reginald Perry. We can't get involved."

"Hey! I got you the money! You can't wimp out at the last minute."

Curtis blinked. "You seem to misunderstand what exactly I do. The core business of VBT Enterprises is consultancy and marketing."

"Marketing? Consultancy?"

"Yes. My coalition wants the public to remember the wealth of options you have when you deal with the hills and valleys that life brings to you, and make sure that as an informed consumer, you don't make any glaring mistakes if you choose alternate ways to deal with life's stresses. This current life is very...sterile. Devoid of the vim that is the intrinsic nature of Man. We would like to encourage that spirit."

"I don't understand." Wes said, puzzled.

"Of course you don't." Curtis agreed.

"But your card said..." Wes trailed off. The card did not promise contracted atrocities. He'd read it several times.

"That is a little additional sideline I have worked out." Curtis seemed to confirm. "I have added expenses these days. Something to keep the bottom line healthy." His eyes unconsciously flicked back to the door that Andrea had exited.

"Here is the important point." Curtis continued. "While I am not able to help you, even if I could, hiring me would not solve the problem you have. You have a huge amount of pain in your soul. And hiring a flunky like a yard man to clear out the weeds in your life, well, there is no visceral satisfaction to that. There is no sense of," a trace of an ironic smile crossed his face " 'justice'. No sense of closure unless you actually feel the jar in your bones of making whomever wronged you pay personally for his affronts to your dignity. If you want to get rid of that pain, you need to share it with someone else...perhaps 'inflict' it on someone else." Wes looked diffident at this suggestion. "You were aware that he had a private investigator check you out, did you not?" Curtis prodded.

"THAT FUCKING COCKSUCKER!" 

Ah...Wrath. Nothing quite like it. Curtis thought.

Curtis slid his arm around Wes' shoulder. His tone was soft. "He's wronged you. This is something a man, a real man, would handle himself. I think you can be that man. I KNOW you can be that man. It is a part of your soul. The choice is yours however." 

"Yes but...how do I find him? How do I do it? What about the police?"

"Ah." Curtis started nodding his head and smiling. "I can't attack Reginald Perry for you. But now you are asking for a 'nonperson specific tutorial on violence and crime'. That is always available!" Curtis lifted the envelope and shook $1,000 onto the table. He had a trip to Florida to pay for. Parks were expensive. "I have heard that bar parking lots are particularly good locations for this kind of thing. Those places always attract the wrong element..." he started.

++

"What was that all about? You know I hate your 'business meetings'." Andrea asked in a very controlled voice when he slid into the car. "If that is what you constantly have to deal with, no wonder you have such a low opinion of humanity."

"I find him pretty darned typical." He pursed his lips. "If I had come alone, do you think I would turn down his business?"

She frowned in thought. "No. So you brought me so we could pay off Reggie for stopping me from triggering?" She assayed.

Curtis looked at her in mild shock. "Whatever gave you that idea? The only reason you were triggering was because Reginald Perry caused the problem in the first place. I don't owe him a damned thing."

"Then why did you bring me so you could refu...?" she looked at him as he sat there, fuming. "Oh." She simpered quietly to herself. HE owed Reg nothing. She, on the other hand, felt quite differently.

"Not a damned word!" He huffed.

"Of course not." She searched to mollify his inner conflict. "You are doing this because you want to manipulate my emotions, making me think you care so you can use me. Not that you would have any such real emotions."

"Got it in one." He agreed moodily. "Is it working?"

She laid her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his right one as he drove. "Perfectly."

++

"It's not fair!" Reg almost screamed at the bartender. 

"What's up with the shiner?" Ed asked Reg. The right side of his face was sporting a rather large bruise.

"That's part of my fan club. People who...well...It hurts but it's nothing much."

Ed wiped the bar. "If I were you, I'd be very careful about demanding 'fair' from the universe. Have you considered what exactly you 'deserve'? That and probably more." He gestured at Reg's cheek. "So, what has you so upset?"

"I am trying to get together with Beth. We have a lot of...issues to get over. Trust. But we click...we do. It isn't exactly like high school and college, but it's still there. I can feel it."

"But what's the problem?"

"Wes! Her mom! Her friends! Her guilt! We start to get something developing. Things start working and we get going. Then Wes calls screaming at her about me and the kids and she pulls back. Says I am an unwholesome influence. And a lot of her friends and family are disappointed in her taking up with me. They blame me for this whole fiasco."

"Reginald...you are responsible for this whole fiasco."

"Whose side are you on?!?"

"The one which is healthiest and the least painful for everyone. What is best for you. What is best for Beth. What is best for the kids. Whose side are you on?"

"Mine!" Reg stopped and took a sip. "And...I like those kids. I like those kids a lot. I think that I am better for those kids than Wes."

"Think..." Ed wiped the bar. "I like 'know'." Reg squirmed uncomfortably.

"Okay, I KNOW I'm better. At least I'm there."

"If he doesn't care, why is he calling?" Ed asked. A trio of women regulars left and he glanced at his closed circuit monitors to see if it was safe in the parking lot and the alley...and was shocked to see that it wasn't. "Excuse me a moment. I have to deal with some garbage..." he said, leaving the back of the bar at speed, grabbing a stick.

++

Curtis stood on the curb in the shadows in the alley by Ed's bar, watching the parking lot patiently. There was a movement of air, a scuff of shoes and Ed was there.

"What the Hell are you doing here?" the barkeep barked.

"Hello to you too. Your graciousness knows all limits." Curtis responded, watching the barkeep warily.

"You are not welcome here. I don't want you or your chippy around here."

"No one says 'chippy' these days and I resent your slur to her character."

"So what are you doing here now?" Reg had shared a few of his adventures with the barkeep. "I'm not going to let you hurt Reg. He's grown beyond your influence."

The pair heard the bar door open by the welter of music released and naturally turned. Reggie stood there, hand in his pocket as he removed his keys and started for his car.

Curtis quirked an eyebrow at Ed. "Beyond my influence? Hmm. I am here for one reason: Curiosity. I am compelled to see how the end of this farce plays out." Curtis said, smoking his cigarette. 

++

Reg walked to his car, contemplative. Was his inclusion in the lives of April and Jimmy hurting them? How could it? Right now, he was a better father to them than Wes was. Okay...he was trying to be a better father than Wes was. Did he know if he was hurting them?

He didn't. Could he know? Or could he take that chance?

He turned to the door of his newly purchased car, his reflection curved and dark as the streetlight reflected off the glass onto him.

In the glass, he saw a man in a ski mask raise up with a bar of silver in his hands, swinging it at his head.

++

"By the way, am I distracting you?" Curtis asked Ed offhandedly.

++

Reg, with reflexes honed by a lot of recent fights, dropped down. The aluminum baseball bat grazed the top of his head and shattered the window, the spray of glass hitting his face and shoulders.

He started scrambling away on all fours. The bat slammed into his door panel as he tried to spin around and get up. The next swing came too fast and clipped his left shoulder, making him fall and roll onto his back. The lunging cursing figure raised the bat with a two handed over head swing, aiming it at Reg's head. Reg lashed out with his foot with all his power at the man's groin, his arms coming up to cover his head.

The bat hit his arms, the blow robbed of power by his kick. He was able to grab Wes' shoulder (he'd recognized the voice and the jacket) and dragged him down to the ground. Neither was a ground fighter, but Reg had weight and muscle tone on his side, even with the injuries he'd suffered recently. He was able to land a good elbow into Wes' temple and was able to scramble up, reaching under HIS jacket.

You see, Reg had finally gotten his gun.

Wes was lying there, scrambling around until he saw the pistol pointed at him, when he froze. There was a metallic clunk near his jacket pocket.

Ed and Curtis stood in the shadows as still as statues.

Reg stood there, watching his former friend over the sight on the end of the barrel. It would be soooo easy. Just a little pressure on his finger. He could have Beth and Jimmy and April. Wes would be out of the picture. It was self defense! He could sell that to a jury. Broken car...injuries. It even had the benefit of being true. But...would Beth look at him the same way? Would Kelly? His will fighting his every instinct, his finger slowly removed the pressure from the trigger.

"Wes...move to the side but don't touch the ground. What was that in your pocket?" Wes shook his head vehemently. "Wes...this isn't a request. I think you have a gun. I will shoot you. I've been in the hospital enough lately. MOVE!"

Shuffling his butt over and very pale, Wes moved to the side. On the ground was a large set of bypass rose pruners. Reg started to see red. "Why do you have rose trimmers in your...?" The penny dropped for Reg. "YOU! YOU! You were going to knock me out and cut off my...!" He almost pulled the trigger right then and there.

++

Curtis looked at Ed. "You got to admire these little flourishes they add. I didn't suggest that to Wes. And I got to say, that little weasel is a lot gutsier than I imagined if he's going to live near a guy whose nuts he..."

"SHUT. UP." Ed intoned like a trump of doom.

++

Instead, Reg picked up the bat and swung it. "You were going to cut my nuts off? What the HELL? You're still walking around intact! You fucker! Why did you take Beth? Why did you abandon your kids? Why!" The bat punctuated his questions, though one handed and the left hand at that, the swings were awkward and he wasn't able to get a satisfactory blow. 

"Because you were always there!" Wes screamed back at him, his leg lashing out to kick at Reg's ankle.

Reg staggered backwards and leaned against the car, trying to maintain his balance. "What?"

"YOU. ARE ALWAYS. THERE!"

"You can't blame this on me. You dumped the kids months ago!"

"You idiot! She waited for you for a while! Why do you think she waited so long to get married? Why do you think she waited so long to have kids? It's all so clear, and the first opportunity, you just slithered right in. And now...now every time I want to get back into their lives, you are there! I can't stand you! I can't stand the sight of you. I wish I'd never met you! You've ruined my whole life!"




Reconciliation Ch. 03: Redemption



"How could you run away like that?" Rage fueled by his own abandonment made Reg swat Wes again. "They are your KIDS!"

"Because it's SCARY! They look at you and look at you like you are some kind of superman and you KNOW, you just KNOW you're not! That you do bad stupid, cruel things sometimes. And when you fail them, or disappoint them, they look at you and you just want to die! It's like you had cut them! It was easier to walk away. She was always pining for you, so why shouldn't I look for my own diversions? She...the cheating...it was the excuse I needed. I shouldn't have married her. I'm not ready to be a husband or a father." Despair crossed Wes' features.

Fear. Reg slid back on the car facing Wes, gun grasped in both his hands and carefully pointing to the sky. Was that the answer? Did his mother run away, not because she loved someone better, 

but because she feared being less than perfect, because she wasn't ready to be a parent? There was no way he could know. But somewhere, was his mother having her own problems looking in a mirror...just like him? Just like Wes?

Wes hadn't stopped talking. "But...I was feeling like shit. I mean...I tried to keep busy...but I couldn't forget them. I tried! But I started to miss their little faces. I tried to get together with them. But YOU WERE ALWAYS THERE!" Wes lashed out his foot, kicking Reg's ankle again.

And there is was. The universe was presenting Reg his bill. He could have Beth...but he would have to be the man who stole a man's kids from him. Or he could look in a mirror and lose the only woman he had loved. He looked at the sniveling wreck of a man in front of him...and he realized he had helped create him; making a man even worse off than his father, who at least had Reg in his life. It wasn't in Wes' character to make the most of reality. If Reg was in Beth's life, Wes would not be in April and Jimmy's. Reg had to choose if he was going to do that. After his ruining so many relationships for others, Karma decided she wanted one from Reg.

So what did Reg owe Wes?

Reg pointed the gun in the air, looking for something to say. Finally, in low tones, he said, "I had a car accident. I was convalescing at Beth's new house. We were never intimate after that first time. Every time the phone rang...every time there was a knock on the door...your kids were watching. They were waiting... for you. Even after all these months, no calls, no visits, they are still waiting for you to show up. To show that you care about them. They like me...but I'm not their Dad."

"You don't get to just...toss kids away like a puppy who piddles on the floor. I don't care how scared you are. I don't care if you want to be a father. Ready or not, here they are! They don't care if you're perfect. They care if you're there." Bitterness filled his voice. "They love you...GOD how they love you! Even though you're a piece of shit. Even though you abandoned them. I wish...I wish I had that." Reg paused. "There is a swing set at Beth's new house. I can't put it together. I tried. I think...whether you can stand Beth or not, that maybe you need to go over there and take a crack at it yourself. For your kids. It is the very least you owe them."

++

Curtis sighed. "Well...that was interesting." He said as he watched the two separate.

"Now I get to clean up this mess you made." Ed shot at the criminal.

"ME? Wow...you think even more highly of me than she does. I didn't make them cheat. I didn't make them hate. I left A business card. They made all the choices from there." 

"A business card?"

"I am very good at marketing. There is always a Reginald Perry. There is always a Wesley Moran. I didn't really feel compelled to get too involved. Besides, she asked me not to push too hard."

" 'She'...you mean that woman you wander around with." He paused. "I can't let you keep her." Ed stated.

Curtis gave him a disgusted look. "Don't let her hear you say that. I won't be responsible. When she's away, she gets sulky and homesick. Someone else thought they had a better handle on her than I did." The tone suggested late nights and shovels. "It was a big mess until I could fetch her back."

Ed paused. Curtis tended to use people like matches. "Fetch her back? You? Why would you 'fetch her back?"

"She knows exactly how I like my coffee, she has this secret cookie recipe where she burns them just a little perfectly and I would maim three large men for just one of her baths."

"Coffee?" Ed asked, nonplussed.

"One has to have priorities in life."

"Try Starbucks. Reg says's she's violent and unstable. Hanging around you isn't going to help her."

"We all have our little faults...present company excluded." Curtis smiled contentedly. "If she wasn't with me, she'd be dead in a year. Her own people would be terrified of her when she's tripping. She doesn't scare me. She's a wonderful caring person who is appropriately pragmatic. She's frigging perfec..." He stopped and glared at 

Ed was immune to his glare, but decided a subject change was in order. "Why did you get involved here?" He gestured at the parking lot where the little drama took place.

"Reginald Perry involved himself in my life. I returned the favor. Once high moral choices got involved, you couldn't' keep me away." 

"This was none of your business."

"Is it any of yours? That 'free will' thing. For the most part, they came to me. They always do. And this sort of thing is the result."

"If they are as flawed as you believe, then how is it that they are both still alive? There is grace inside them."

"Perhaps. But before you excoriate me and what I do, think about this: would you be so certain of Reginald Perry's 'show of grace' if he hadn't been tested? Read Job." Curtis started to walk away.

"I hadn't finished talking." Ed called out to him.

"So talk. Who's stopping you? But I'm not listening. I'm a busy guy. I had this perfect Anniversary gift fall into my lap. She wants it badly. Well...you try to help someone and it always bites you on the ass! They ran off. Now I have to go find them again. That's okay. I have the Devil's luck when it comes to finding people." Curtis disappeared into the shadows.

Ed blinked hard. "Anniversary gift?" he said to himself, appalled. They were married? And yet Curtis let Reggie go. He was left reflecting on both the redeeming and corrupting power of love...and wondering which fit here.

++

Ed walked back into the bar. Reba the barmaid intercepted him. "Your latest social project came back in here looking like he was ready for suicide watch. I stuck him in the private booth with a glass, a bottle and a bucket of ice. If he's opened his wrists, you get to clean it up."

Ed wedged his bulk into the small, well padded booth. A quick glance at the bottle showed only two long pours were missing to his practiced eye. Reg looked like death.

"You know...she was a cheater when she was dating me. She cheated on Wes. She'd probably cheat on me again. Once a cheater, always a cheater. And I'd probably get sick of all the kid trash and snot all over the place." Reg said dolorously. "I'm a pretty fastidious guy. I've never been in a real relationship. It wouldn't have worked out."

Ed nodded. He put another long pour into Reg's glass and put some in a tumbler he had snagged from the bar. "So...do you believe any of the nonsense you just got finished spouting?" He asked the bereft man.

"No...but I want to." Reg took another sip.

The barkeep nodded again. "To the right thing." After a pause, Reg grudgingly clinked his glass to Ed's.

"This must be the right thing, because it hurts so bad. So what do I do now?"

Ed nibbled the bottom of his lip. "I have a couple of ideas. If you want to brighten things up a bit."

++

The man came in with a pasty, shell shocked look on his face. He struggled to the bar. Ed considered. Fiscal ruin? Death in the family? It only took two drinks to get the truth flowing out of him. "She...I think she's seeing someone else. Fourteen years!" the man was close to tears.

Ed patted his shoulder. "This one's on the house. Just give me a minute. I think I have someone who can help you." He walked to the other side of the bar where Reg was taking a few minutes from bartending to check out his Intro to Psychology book. "Reg...we got one for you over here."

He closed the book and went over, taking the man to a booth. "So...tell me about your marriage..." 

Epilogue

The phone rang. "Hello?" Mrs. DeVecchio responded. The caller ID said it was an unknown cell phone, but she picked up anyway. Her husband had a lot of clients, many of whom were troubled by issues which caused them to need new cell phones, particularly among the newly divorced.

A bright female voice came over the line. "Hi Mrs. Devecchio. I'm Anna, one of the girls in your daughter's math class. We'd swapped numbers before and I've been out of class for two days with a fever and I wanted to get our assignments from your daughter. Liz was out of class too with her parents, so I can't call her. Would you mind if I spoke to Kelly for five minutes?"

Wendy DeVecchio hesitated. It was a mere two months after the break in to their house and 9 weeks since their daughter was almost terminally stupid. But maybe it was time to loosen the strings for her a little bit. It was, after all, just a phone call. "Kelly! Phone!"

Kelly, shocked at the latitude, came up disbelievingly. "Who?"

"Anna from math class."

There was no Anna in her math class. "Oh. Okay." She took the receiver. "Hello?" Her voice was a bit tremulous.

"Hi. We both know there is no Anna in your math class, so you know this call isn't on the up and up. For your information, I know your Uncle Reg." There was a significant pause. "Not like that. I assume your mother is listening. Tell me 'page 148, section C, all the odd questions'." Andrea said slowly and calmly.

It took Kelly a moment to gather her thoughts. "Yeah. I know! Luckily you didn't miss too much since we had a sub one of the days. We just have section C, the odd ones." Pause. "Oops. I forgot. Page 150." Her mother, watching this exchange, walked off to the kitchen to straighten up, still within earshot if she paid attention.

"I said page one 148, but nice adlibbing." Andrea said.

"So...what's going on?" Kelly asked in vacuous teen tones since she dared not lower her voice to ask all the questions she desperately wanted to ask.

"Good girl. You have a talent for this. Use it for good. I'm calling to brag a little bit. My husband got me this absolutely AMAZING anniversary gift and I need to share with someone. You know how you get a gift and you want to show it off to all of your girlfriends? I can't do that. You, however...you can probably...appreciate this gift more than most. I'm willing to share it with you. Now say something teen aged stupid."

"Really?!? Go on!" Kelly said, her tone light but her eyes were slightly wild.

"Nice. Turn on the 6 o'clock news, channel 4. Our reporter friend told us it would be the lead story." Kelly glanced at the clock. It was 5:45. There was a pause. "He did it for ME!" There was pride in the voice on the phone, but also a bit of desperation. "You have no idea how lucky you are. You fell...but someone picked you up. Tell your Uncle Reg if you see him that his dancing friends are done with him and with you. Tell him we'll keep this promise if he keeps his. So if you fall again, you stupid little girl...there might not be anyone to pick you up again and keep you safe. You have no idea how dark the roads are you might have to travel down." The voice was filled with painfully earned wisdom and more than a touch of self-loathing. "When someone picks you up...you owe them. You make sure to take care of Reggie. Promise!"

"I promise." Kelly squeaked out.

"This phone is going into the trash as soon as I hang up. Don't bother looking for us." Click.

"Dinner." Wendy called out.

"Mom..." Kelly fought to make her voice normal. "Mom...can I please watch the news in the living room while I eat?"

Our top story. Fire fighters responded to fire which occurred at a trailer hidden in Wayne National Forest today, suspected of being a methamphetamine lab. Three men were treated for severe burns and taken to a local ICU unit. The men, one Richard Lewis, Chas Lewis, and Michael Lewis, are suspected of running this operation. The authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire." 

Their photos were displayed. It was Rick and his brothers.

Despite Andrea's assertions, Kelly had a very hard time getting to sleep that night...

++

Andrea removed the battery of the cell phone, took out the sim card and folded it several times and burned it with a lighter. She tossed the phone itself into the river. There was no way she was allowing anyone to triangulate that phone to her home. She drove back to her neighborhood. She happily waved to her neighbors as she drove into the driveway of her house in the cul de sac. Home. Where they treated her like normal. Where she was safe to have some she cared for and One she loved. Where He kept her safe from everyone, including her outer and inner demons. The very idea of 'home' was more precious to her than rubies. Entering her house with her shopping, as always, she gave a little sigh of relief. Here, there was only HER monster. She felt safe. 

She went to her craft room and carefully wrote the three names of Rick and his two brothers on three separate scraps of paper. Then she burned them one by one and put the ashes in their respective funerary jars, filling them the rest of the way with a fine white sand. 'Never leave evidence and never take trophies.' Curtis always said, and she always had faith in him. There! They were a fine addition to the other jars in their curio case. They weren't technically dead, but she felt they warranted jars. Who cared if the neighbors thought it was a bit morbid; they were artistic.

Going to her bedroom, she tried on the new dress she'd just bought for their trip to Florida, the one with the low cut décolletage. Curtis would just LOVE this one! And she wondered if any other stupid evil men in Florida might like it as well. Well enough to be fatally stupid? Possibly. She got a lot of good use out of her Bad Bad Man. She packed it carefully.

She went upstairs to where Curtis was watching the television on the couch. He was laughing at the news, something he did quite regularly. She stood for a moment next to the couch, looking at him. He scooted to lie down. She contentedly nestled in front of him, his arm naturally draping across her chest and arms. When you walked in the dark, it was a comforting feeling to do it with a warm beast.

++++

I was in a bar in a foreign land in my callow youth. In the bar were some 'bar girls', women who, I won't say 'gladly', but willingly took money for an evening's dalliance. There was nothing official or even semi-official about their status such as in Thailand and if the authorities found out about them, they would NOT get a slap on the wrist. This was a conservative country, and yet they had to do it anyway.

Three of these women were 'regulars'. You could see it in their eyes. They'd been there, done that. They'd been used...and they in turn had used people themselves. There was a hardness to them which is hard to disguise. They were poor. They were far from innocents.

But also in this bar was a fresh looking girl who was just past 18 years old. She didn't have that hardness around the eyes. She still had her innocence...and the men there flocked around her.

The women there were DESPERATELY trying to keep this girl from falling into the lifestyle they had fallen into of selling their dignity a few dollars at time. They tried to keep her around 'reputable' gentlemen who wouldn't take advantage. They tried to limit her alcohol intake. They kept her from being isolated and shunted off by the horny men surrounding her. They FERVERENTLY wished she wasn't' there...not for the competition, but because they wanted to protect her. But they weren't her parents. They couldn't control her or change her circumstance any more than they could change their own.

I hear about how thoughtless, heedless, and immoral whores, cheaters and other such folk are, irredeemable to any change, lacking even the desire. They don't even know how horrible they are. Or so I'm told. 

But then I remember the lost look on a prostitute's face in a foreign land as she told me this story and looked upon another young girl falling to the same ways she fell. 

The Fallen know exactly what they have lost. Sadly, some of them get to the point where they can pretend they don't care anymore. And if they have NO way of changing, if they are stuck being that way, it's a far sadder world then I imagined. Because what is life without Hope?

This story is dedicated to that woman.